Okay, happy campers. How’s it going on this New-Moon-third-eclipse-in-a-month-4th-0f-July weekend with temperatures ranging in the plus 100 level, droughts to the west of us, and a Missouri River flood heading our way?

Don’t get me wrong, summer is my favorite season, but 100 plus weather is like 0 degree weather in the winter: I don’t go outside much. This morning, however, I woke too early for good sense, so by the time 6:30 arrived, I needed to move and everyone else in the house still slept. So, before 7, I went for a walk.

Not a lot of traffic before seven in the morning. I’d heard a siren earlier, but as I crossed our closest, busy street, I barely had to check for cars. One. A block away. That left me free to notice other things: light, for example. The sunlight that bedevils us at noon glistened in the tops of trees. No cars fought me for space on the street. And I thought about my friend Kim who runs every morning, early, very early, and I understood.

There’s a balance to the day in the morning, before cars, before life begins swinging to excess.

And that’s what most of us keep looking for: some balance in our lives. I saw a man quietly water plants with a hose; another man quietly walked his dog, coffee in hand; church bells rang for morning mass. A comforting sound, regardless of frustration with the current policies or politics. I came home and hand-watered my plants, too. The cucumbers already producing, the tomatoes putting on little, round, hard, green balls. The fullness of the season is upon us.

Much as I like my morning musings with a cup of tea, I may become an early morning walker. It gives me a new way to look at the world and it changes habits that may need shaking into a new pattern.

That’s the second part, perhaps, of balance – flexibility. I stay in better balance when I’m flexible – in my legs and in my mind.

So here’s a New Moon for you – with an eclipse to help you break up old patterns. Where do you need to look to see things new; what will bring you flexibility and balance?